Flurry of windfarm extension applications

The Crown Estate, the owner and manager of the UK seabed, has received eight applications to extend existing windfarms by a total of 3 gigawatts (GW) capacity.

The Crown Estate announcement sets out that sites for extension will now assess the applications and decide in summer 2019 on making formal offers to the applicants to develop the sites.

Currently there is 7.1GW of operational offshore wind capacity in the UK, with a further 2.6GW under construction and a further 3.6GW that will be built out by 2024.

Emma Pinchbeck of trade body RenewableUK, commenting on the Crown Estate announcement said: "Today's announcement shows that there is huge appetite to invest in new offshore wind in the UK, which could create thousands of jobs and provide cheap power for consumers.

This new capacity could help deliver the industry's vision for offshore wind as the backbone of a clean, reliable and affordable energy system."